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AT &T Park in San Francisco and O.co Coliseum in Oakland are part of this year’s first doubleheader opportunity available by ground in 2018. The Bay Area usually holds 3 – 4 doubleheader chances a year to attend full games in both parks.

Each year we write the full doubleheader master schedule to see all games you can in one year (within reasonable driving or ground distance to cover, if not see all of both games).

This season is no different, although this amount of contests is rapidly dwindling each campaign with staggered start times for a lot of clubs (in particular in April and on Saturdays), coupled with the time per game increasing, it makes it tougher than ever to watch 2 full games at venues.

We will add much more to this list as the year goes on, and definitely one thing to watch for is the ESPN Sunday Night Games TBD’s as the summer progresses.

The Giants need to try and take advantage of all the AL teams bunch together to make good trades. Meanwhile, there is NOTHING wrong with bunting your way on to break up a no hitter. Too many teams are within striking distance of a playoff spot to worry about manners.

Also talking about Ortiz and A-Rod and retiring numbers and remembering the 2007 Rockies.

So Rockies fans can finally see one of their OWN players hit for the cycle!

Seems like Coors Field is the place to hit for the cycle. And man, Nolan Arenado found the ideal way to finish it. Needing only a homer to check all the boxes off, he launched his in the bottom of the 9th for 3 runs and his team down.

A walk off, come from behind multi run homer to finish the cycle. That’s not a bad day at the office!

Was a Milwaukee and Arizona game in June a playoff preview? That should be a good thing. Several franchises without a World Series title, like Washington, Milwaukee, Colorado and Houston find themselves as contenders in mid June. They should act like the time to win is NOW!

There’s really no way for anyone to replicate that performance (.261/.324/.696 line with 10 homers and 20 RBI, good for a 143 wRC+). Even if he mashed once again this month, coming into the season expecting that level of production — especially in the power department — would be entirely unfair.

However, Story has unfortunately seen the other end of the spectrum this year with regard to April performances. He already experienced what it’s like to be on fire, and now he’s realizing what it feels like to start completely ice cold.

That’s evidenced by his .125/.263/.313 triple slash with 2 homers and 3 RBI in 57 plate appearances. As frustrating as the first handful of games have likely been for him, his results on offense haven’t all been bad. Not a whole lot has been good, though.

We have been talking projections for win totals in the upcoming MLB Year on a all offseason basis here at the MLB Reports. While we agreed a lot with the fangraphs.com prognostications, we had a problem with Baseball Prospectis’s PECOTA System yet again.

In the 1st total listed below are the official Win/Loss Over/Unders For All 30 MLB Clubs posted by Atlantis Casino.

We have to say that they pretty much mirrored what we have on the board for our projections.

Casino’s have a vested interest since it will cost them serious money if there are poor predictions.

Rogers Home Opener will be on Tuesday Apr 111, 2017, to kick off the 29th year the ballpark has been playing games there. Last year the Jays drew 3.4 Million Fans. and that is the biggest total since the World Series Years – or the 1st 5 years of the venue.

No teams in the AL would be favored against the Cubs should they face the reigning Champs, so it may be easier to bet them just to win the AL Pennant.

There is a reason why these odds value favorites are not any real difference for the Odds To Win The World Series and these will be any different.

Basically, you could just go ahead with a World Series bet for anyone you think that can win the Title, and then simply hedge when it comes to the Fall Classic.

I always say that MLB Power Rankings should have a lot to do with odds to win any type of Division, League Pennant or World Series.

The 1st thing that jumped out to me here was that the LA Angels are at 35/1 for the Junior Circuit. Should they face any of the Senior Circuit’s top clubs, they would probably all be +150 underdogs.

If you were to pick the Angels at +3500, and then parlay that into a +150 wager in the World Series, than the overall odd shoots +8750 rather than the +7500.

Personally, the Angels have had a great winter to shore up the defense – and have addressed a few roster spots with a deeper bench.

Is it that foreign to think that the Los Angeles Angels could jump out quickly if Mike Trout can carry them?

In their 1st 60 games of the season, the Halo’s effectively miss the Indians and Red Sox on the docket, and only have to play 3 games versus the Tigers as well. Yes, they play a huge chunk of their games vs the AL West, but they have improved against all of the clubs as of right now. Mike Scioscia’s squad gets to play 4 games at Tampa – and 4 games vs the Twins, 3 vs Toronto and Atlanta at home, with 3 at KC and Miami. Did I mention they play the A’s 10 times in their 1st 60 contests as well? I could see them with 34 or 36 wins at the 60 game mark In an exhausting stretch from Apr 3, to May 15, the team also plays 43 games in 46 nights, with 20 of them at home, but that is a great itinerary to kick off the campaign.

Lets say they are 8 or 10 games over at that point, I could actually see the organization spending a little bit more money in the 2nd half to acquire talent.

Also if they can withstand until Albert Pujols gets back healthy everyday as the permanent DH.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the Astros, M’s and Rangers still better for the Division, but the gap is not that much….Particularly if the Astros don’t add a Starting Pitcher, the Mariners don’t add a slugging First Baseman, and Texas is hesitant to spend more money on payroll.

The Angels did win 98 Games in 2014 and 85 games in 2015, before receding to 74 victories last campaign.

Mike Trout is due for one of those just carry the club on his back seasons, (not that he hasn’t been awesome individually in that time span.

If the Cubs make the World Series, than only the Boston Red Sox or Cleveland Indians may even come close to an even match for an opponent, with the reigning champs still holding a distinct advantage.

Boston’s +270 is a brutal look at an odd for the AL. I am not infatuated with the odd of +600 for the World Series either. They play in a tough AL East where all 5 teams could compete.

Both the Indians and Astros are fairly pitted for their odds towards the AL Pennant.

Texas continues to be the oddball 2nd favorite in the AL West despite having a poor winter thus far.

News that they will probably sign Mike Napoli should buoy some spirits, and I am willing to acknowledge that when it happens, yet I feel they still need more.

If the Rangers also swing a Jurickson Profar for a Tampa Bay starter like Jake Odorizzi, then I could par them up with Houston. As of right now, they are two players short.

I still love the odds for the Nationals even though I wish they wouldn’t have come to near Spring Training without a proven Closer.

The more we draw near to the regular season, the less I like the Yankees too in 2017. They are going to be way too dependent on Gary Sanchez setting the world on fire to contend in my opinion.

New York’s rotation does not instill confidence despite having a lock down Relief Core. Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner are in their mid 30’s now – where the speed doesn’t play as good.

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Best Source of Information for all 30 MLB Ballparks – and network of stadium afficionado’s

First off, if you have never been to one of the 30 MLB Parks, we don’t advise on doing a doubleheader as part of your initial experience with the venue. 2 Games in one day takes a lot of travel,planning, and receiving the utmost experience in a stadium requires time.

However, if you are already versed in a park, than we are giving you a list of all doable Doubleheaders for the entire 2017 Calendar MLB season,

Most of these are within 2 to 4 hours away from each other (if not a shorter distance.)

In my lifetime of ballpark chasing, I have now done almost 100 Doubleheaders as part of my journeys. The more baseball in a day, the better I feel.

In the meantime, consider visiting my buddy Craig’s website ballparkchasers.com – and for Park Guides to every cathedral in the MLN! If you have any questions about going to the park. hit my up – mlbreports@gmail.comRead the rest of this entry →

We go over this every season, but I am shocked to not see that much coverage on the issue. The American League has absolutely thrashed on the National League in Interleague for the last 13 years.

Don’t tell me this is an anomaly. This is a massive trend. Plus no, the answer is not to eliminate MLB Interleague to level out the playing field.

I am already not going to watch the ALL – Star Game this year because it doesn’t mean anything. Yes. I may be in the minority of the game actually being worth something in the MidSmmer Classic. For those keep scoring at home, the League that actually won the All Star Game incredibly played 3 less games than the loser thanks to MLB’s brilliant (insert sarcasm here) 2 – 3 – 2 format.

But I guess no one else remember’s guys high fiving each other in the dugout once they were lifted in the ALL – Star Game, so they could catch a plane. I will watch the HR Derby, and that is it. I digress.Read the rest of this entry →

It is coming to that time where we all start making our predictions, and also plunk down more cabbage on the yearly bets. The 1st week of the February usually will come out with Player Prop Bets, and Teams Win Totals of Over and Under.

I don’t need to remind our long term readers that we have excelled in this foray since the beginning of introducing Gambling 101 as a category to mlbreports.com.

We look to continue our 70% best bet percentage. I am looking to bounce back in the regular season in particularly as I made up the most of the money in player props, HR Derby and World Series Odds.

Today we are focusing on the MLB Divisions.

The AL East is the strongest Division in the game as 4 clubs are at least half decent. and even Tampa Bay is not that bad.Read the rest of this entry →

So I have done about everything there is to do in for World Records in going to all the 30 MLB Parks. I was able to hit all 30 MLB Parks in just 23 Days during 2012, besting my own 2009 record of 30/24.

SunTrust Park will open up its gates for baseball for the 1st time ever on Friday Apr 14, 2017. It is the last home opener to have its game on the schedule for the 2017 Regular Season..IMAGE – Ballparksofbaseball.com

We are not too far away from Spring Training folks. That also means that the majority of the clubs have posted start times for all of their home openers upcoming to start the season.

After this post is published we will continue to monitor the schedule for any changes and will have them updated.

The season kicks off with a trio of games in Tampa Bay, Arizona and St. Louis on Sunday Apr 2, 2017 – and the last home opener will be at the new ballpark in Atlanta (SunTrust Stadium) on Friday Apr 14, (7:35).

For those of you that love ballparks as much as I do, if you click on the actual stadium highlighted itself, it will take you to some of the best advice on how to gameplan your Ball Park Chasing adventures.

Last time we did these odds we talked more about why clubs should be wagered on, and now I will explain how we listed our top 5 bad value bets.

The New York Yankees head the category for this one. There is no rhyme or reason this club should be parallel with their crosstown rivals the Mets – and ahead of the Cardinals, Rangers or Mariners for their odd.

Quite simply, the club is not as good as those other squads right now. The direction of the organization to the youth movement may change that scenario in the near future – however can you really bank on any of their Starting Pitchers in a playoff series?

Also if you have the Blue Jays and Red Sox already ahead of you on the list, a lot of other 2nd place clubs in each of the other Divisions may hav a better leg up on you to snare the 2nd Wild Card Spot.

I like the Detroit Tigers as more of a chance to make the playoffs the Bronx Bombers in 2017. I will say that if they are in contention, that the money is always there to acquire guys midway through the year (hopefully all on expiring contracts.)Read the rest of this entry →

Over the last week we have seen some factors that have changed some win totals and rankings. Unfortunately the saddening loss of Yordano Ventura will cause the Royals to lose a win or 2.

We saw Jose Bautista re-sign with the Jays, Mark Trumbo re-sign with the O’s and the Phillies sign Michael Saunders. These are significant signings for the 1st 2 – and Saunders becomes one of Phlladelphia’s best clubs.

For the MLB Rankings, we are also factoring in the World Series chances of each club.

It is important to also recognize the 300 games of the MLB Interleague. The American League holds a 13 year winning streak, and adds to their victories in the year.

So far in 2017, we have the Junior Circuit registering a record of 167 – 133 vs the Senior Circuit. Before you throw stones at me – it was exactly this record that the AL hung vs the NL in 2015.

Going back to Kansas City….I really hope I am wrong about their pending 2017 record. Hopefully they also go and sign a Jason Gammel or Doug Fister to help the rotation.

Lets also hope that we don’t have any more deaths have to be figure out where we have teams wins at. It is awful. I hate using the Miami Marlins win total as a struggle to grip with the loss of Jose Fernandez.Read the rest of this entry →

San Francisco has seen the LA Dodgers spend more than 1 Billion Dollars on player contracts over the last 4 years – all culminating into 4 straight Division titles in the process. Under the new Luxury Tax Yes the organization has handed out big money recently to Johnny Cueto (6 Years/$130 MIL) and both Hunter Pence and Jeff Samardzija are on 5 year pacts that call for $90 MIL. The only blip against the radar is the Matt Cain contract. Brian Sabean can actually stomach that abysmal deal because of the sweetheart pact he put forth in retaining Madison Bumgarner early for 6 Years and $35.9 MIL of total money, in which he is in the 6th year of currently. The team still holds two more Team Options for him additionally in 2018 & 2019 which they will surely activate. His deal paved the way for the team to add valuable players after.

We have been saying for years that the LA Dodgers were going to force the rest of the MLB into many changes as soon as they switched ownership group to the Guggenheim Consortium.

Since that proclamation, the Dodger Blue has spent over 1 Billion Dollars in players salaries over the last 4 years, and are on pace to whisk away $240 MIL more in 2017 (without adding any more players to their current salary structure.)

It has caused a chain reaction among the top clubs competing in the Senior Circuit. One of those said clubs is the San Francisco Giants. The team that has won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014 has seen a rapid escalation in the money they are doling out on an annual basis.

The major difference between the Giants and Dodgers is how many of the players are being paid that the club originally drafted.

During last year’s Trade Deadline, also threw heavy praise at the brass for picking up Matt Moore, who is listed as the clubs 4th Starting Pitcher, and has 3 separate Team Option for a total of $25 MIL over the next 3 campaigns if picked up.

Another team friendly option as they can decide each offseason whether it is worth it.

Moore also provides protection in case Cueto opts out of his contract after 2017.

The National League is a very top heavy league with the Nats, Dodgers, Cubs Mets, Giants and Cardinals and having the best odds to qualify for the postseason in 2016. With 6 teams possibly challenging the 100 loss barrier in the Senior Circuit (Padres, Reds, Brewers, Braves and Phillies),

Since it is the middle part of January, we will offer these polls for all teams in all of the Divisions.

Sully Baseball Podcast – Did a 20 minute show everyday consecutively from 10/24/12 – 4/2/17, Now He is Doing a show Every Thursday

The “Every Day Chucker” Podcast Hosted by Chuck Booth

Chuck Booth’s 30 MLB Parks Trip World Record Page

In 2012, Chuck Booth attended a complete game in all 30 MLB Parks in just 23 calendar days, click the image of he and Larry Lucchino to read all about it.

The MLB BallPark Pass-Port Is A Must Purchase For Those Planning To See All 30

The Ballpark Passport is quickly becoming the favorite item among Ballpark Chasers, to chronicle their life goal to see all 30 Major League Parks. You are able to receive the stamps kit for a small additional price. At around $75 all combined, it will contain one of the biggest memento's ever for a Ballpark Chaser's best bucket list wish ever#Greatgiftidea

The Top 50 Contracts ALL – Time in the MLB – Updated For The Stephen Strasburg Extension

A look at the richest 50 MLB Contracts Of ALL - Time. Click the picture

The Angels announced today that they’ve acquired outfielder Jabari Blash from the Yankees in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. In a corresponding move, the Angels have placed right-hander Alex Meyer on the 60-day disabled list. Blash was designated for assignment yesterday when the Yankees acquired Brandon Drury. Meyer was never likely…

The Rangers are in agreement on a contract with veteran right-hander Jesse Chavez, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (Twitter links). The Sosnick, Cobbe & Karon client seems to have signed a non-guaranteed deal, as Heyman notes that the pact calls for a $1MM base that’ll increase to $1.5MM if he makes the big league…

Feb. 21: Tillman will earn a $1MM bonus for reaching 125 innings and 150 innings, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). He’d earn $1.5MM upon reaching 175 and 190 innings and an additional $2MM for crossing the 200-inning barrier for the first time since 2014. Heyman adds that some of the incentive payments are deferred,…

We’ll track the day’s minor moves in this post: The Braves outrighted right-hander Mauricio Cabrera, who has cleared waivers, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). Atlanta will surely be glad to hold onto the fireballing reliever, who could be an intriguing piece of the late-inning unit if he’s able to get a hold…

The Rays have agreed to a one-year deal with veteran outfielder Carlos Gomez, according to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). Gomez, a Boras Corporation client, receive a $4MM if he passes a physical, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). The deal also includes $500K in potential incentives and a $500K assignment…